Waking From Intellect

Hermione stared at the flirty little tart in the picture Ginny had dropped over her book. The girl was obviously tasteless. Her lurid robe stretched over her figure in a way that left nothing to the imagination, and rather reminded her of the muggle pop idols. She wanted to demand an explanation from Ginny, but found herself unusually inarticulate. "What?"

"I know, I can't believe I actually got to meet her!" Ginny appeared to have gone mad. She couldn't stop moving and her smile rivaled Lockhart's.

"Yes Ginny, it's great... but I really have no idea who she even is." The statement was not entirely true- she was certainly intelligent enough to figure out that the witch in the photo was the same one Ginny had gone to see that day. What she couldn't figure out was why it mattered so much. Ginny hadn't even said hello to Harry, and that was usually on the top of her priorities list.

Ginny swooped down into the chair next to Hermione and stared at her in disbelief. "How can you NOT know? She's only the most famous singer in all of Britain!"

"In all of wizard Britain, maybe. Not in muggle Britain. Which is where I have been the entire holiday."

"But I OWLED you about her! Don't you READ my letters?" Ginny was gripping her hand tightly enough that Hermione felt sure her circulation was slowing.

"Ginny, not everyone hears the word 'celebrity' and goes running." George looked at his sister with an amused expression.

"I do NOT!"

Hermione realized that none of the Weasleys seemed surprised at Ginny's odd behavior. Which meant that must normally act that way at home. Why hadn't Hermione seen this side of the younger girl before? They'd certainly talked about everything else.

Then the other twin spoke. "At least she's not the only one- Harry runs too! But at least he's got the good taste to be running away!" Both twins burst out laughing.

"Oh, quit that," Percy glared at his younger brothers crossly. "Let Ginny have her fun. Now Gin, where are Mum and Dad?"

She turned from giving dirty looks at Fred and George. "In the kitchen still. Dad got us lost in muggle London- it was- no, never mind, no one wants to hear my stories, do they? But Mum's having a quiet talk with him while she gets dinner ready. She was quite furious when she realized that he didn't know where he was taking us." Ginny smiled

Hermione could imagine. It was bad enough getting lost in the city when you knew had muggle laws and customs worked. She didn't want to even consider getting lost without that knowledge.

"But it really was a great concert. And she's so nice in person, not fake at all." Ginny sounded almost like she was sulking- Hermione had never seen her sulk before, and didn't quite know what to make of it. Silence descended upon the room. Ginny was tracing shapes on the table, and, after Hermione returned the picture, smiling again. The twins were tossing something back and forth between them, and Ron seemed to be trying to look at the witch in the picture without being obvious.

Then, Hermione saw Mrs. Weasley. She looked more frazzled than Hermione had ever remembered. "You can't even manage to get the table ready and you've been here how long? I'd hoped that Percy, at least, would have been responsible. You can all just get the table ready- without magic, I'm tired of fixing the crashes- while I finish dinner." She started to leave the room, but turned back. "Harry, Hermione- I'm so glad you two could visit us."

The Weasley children proceeded to set the table once their mother had left, refusing to let Harry and Hermione help. Fred said it was because "Mum'd skin us- you're guests."

Hermione felt rather useless just watching them, but at least Harry was there too... just watching the jostling mess. With five people all trying to be in the same general area at once, there was a bit more shoving than was necessary. She relaxed idly until she heard Harry's whisper.

"Sorry, didn't catch that."

"Before you got here, Ron and I were wondering about something, and we forgot to ask you, but... what did you do with Rita Skeeter? Is she still a bug, or back to normal?"

"Oh, she's human again." Hermione grinned. "I haven't seen any articles by her though- She's probably having a hard time explaining where she's been."

"But what if she writes an article about what you did to her?"

"She can't. Don't you ever think, Harry? She's an unregistered Animagus- and that's more illegal than anything I've done. She won't be writing about us anymore- the first time she does I'll turn her in."

"Right. I was thinking, Hermione, that-"

"Oi! You two come sit down- we're done." Ron smiled at them both as he motioned them towards their seats. Hermione found herself between Harry and Ginny, with Percy across from her and the twins across from Harry and Ron. It was a bit of a squash fitting them all in, but it worked. She put her book under her feet and turned to talk to Ginny.

However, Ginny was still talking about that silly concert. Hermione began to tune her out.

It really was amazing being in the midst of such a tight family. As an only child, Hermione had never had any one to blame things on, or to talk to about her problems, or even play with. Her parents had done a good job preparing her for life as an adult, but hadn't done much to further her youth. Hermione had loved- and lived- to learn, not play with other kids. And so she hadn't had any good friends until Harry and Ron.

And then Hermione realized that getting introspective was not a safe thing to do at a Weasley family dinner. A roll had connected with her face- seemingly out of nowhere- as Fred said, "Sorry about that- I was aiming for Harry."

Hermione picked it up and handed it back to him silently. After four years in Gryffindor, she wasn't surprised at his antics- but she was surprised that they got only a slight scolding from Mrs. Weasley, who was apparently still distracted by her earlier misadventures.

She noticed Percy glaring at the twins, but he didn't say anything to them. Instead, he turned to Ginny. "Did you manage to pick any supplies while you were out, or am I going to be taking you shopping too?"

"What do you mean, are you going to be taking me shopping?"

Ron rolled his eyes. "Honestly, Ginny, if you even stopped to breathe you might have noticed what's going on around you. Mum just said that between you and Dad she wasn't going out again that soon- and that Dad wasn't either. She's making Percy take us for school supplies. He's putting up a bit of a martyr act, but I'd say we're the worst ones off."

Well. Hermione hadn't heard that. Good thing Ginny, who was shrieking about the impossibility of even thinking about school on such a wonderful day, hadn't been paying attention either. That meant that when they were at Flourish and Blotts, she'd be able to ask what books he'd recommend for supplemental reading. And possibly a bit more advice on how to tell Harry and Ron about her new prefect status.

Dinner finished in friendly conversation- the twins recounted the more interesting parts of their quidditch game to their parents and Ginny (ooh, George! You almost fell off?) while Harry had to tell a bit about his vacation- leaving out some of the points he'd told Hermione and Ron earlier, and Hermione found a willing listener on the educational aspects of Bulgaria in Percy.

Afterwards, Hermione and Ginny went up to Ginny's room- Hermione to unpack, Ginny to maul her wardrobe.

"Are you sure you should be doing this?" Ginny was wearing an old school robe, and had used her wand to shrink it a bit- it had been short to begin with, but was now creeping up her calves. It looked a bit odd as it cinched in- it was so billowy originally that it took quite a while to shrink in the middle, but the sleeves were already too tight at the shoulders. "You might want to try just picking an area to work on."

"Right." Ginny muttered, a look of sad determination on her face as the dress began to mold to her body. Once it was adequately tight ("Really, Ginny, you look ridiculous") she began working on the neckline. It sunk lower, and in Hermione's opinion made Ginny look more like a little kid playing dress up than a seductress. But that was a good thing, since Ginny was only 14.

Hermione went back to sorting through her belongings. She hadn't realized that Ginny was that good at the practical applications of magic, especially since Ron had proven to be horrendous at even mending torn sleeves last year. When she finally tuned around again, Ginny had managed to shove her curly hair into something mimicking the awful style of the singer and transfigured her sensible shoes into rather dangerous looking heels.

"Are you sure you can walk in those?" Hermione said doubtfully. It wasn't just the shoes that looked to make it difficult though- Ginny's skirt had climbed above her knees and was extremely tight. While Hermione had actually seen a lot of girls in similar (if better fitting and styled) clothes in her parent's town, she had never thought she'd see anything like it in the wizarding world.

"Yes, of course I can!" Ginny made a slow, awkward twirl. "Now, if you don't have anything helpful to say, I'm going to see what my brothers think of it."

"Or rather, what someone staying with one of your brothers thinks."

Ginny's face began to flush. "You... you...no, I just want to see what they think, is all."

"Of course you do." Ginny walked over to the door slowly, obviously not accustomed to her outfit. When she went to open the door, she over-balanced and tumbled. Perhaps the wizarding world would remember her as Ginny Weasley, inventor of mini-skirts and heels, also their first casualty?

Probably not. Ginny shot a glare at Hermione as she managed to stand back up and stalk out of the room. Hermione went back to unpacking.

She already knew what books she would need, but there were other things to take into consideration. A new school robe or two perhaps? Her old ones were just a bit short, and one was beginning to turn rather grayish. They'd do for Herbology, or Potions labs, but not much else. Hmm. She could also use one of those little moving charts for Astronomy... or a pocket converter for arithmancy... or maybe a dictionary, for supplemental ancient runes work.

She needed to make a list, to avoid impulse buys. But how would she know what would be of most use? Percy.

And so she too left Ginny's room, looking for the former Head Boy, whose room turned out not to be too difficult to find, as of the rooms that weren't Ginny's or Harry's, one had noises coming from it, and one had a rather large sign saying:

Do NOT Disturb. For any reason. Unless you need help with schoolwork, or actually have something serious to discuss. And if you're one of the twins, not even then.

All in all, she rather felt that he would be willing to discuss this topic with her. So Hermione knocked on the door.

"What?"

Hermione paused. He didn't exactly sound inviting. "It's Hermione. I was wondering if I could get some advice- regarding school." And if not, I'll just go rescue your sister's ego from Ron and Harry, where it is no doubt being positively slaughtered.

"In that case," Percy's voice seemed to brighten, "come in. I'd love to help if I can."

Hermione opened the door and stepped through, noticing that Percy's room was very neat- the opposite end of the spectrum from Ron's. The neatness of it seemed to be a distinct part of it too, not just the type of cleanliness that comes only because the occupant wants quick access to their belongings.

Percy, she decided, must actually prefer for it to be that way. How absolutely wonderful!

He was at this desk, reading a thick book called Desert Magic: A history of Foci in Egypt, Concentrating on the Uses of Wands and Amulets. There were no other chairs, so after closing the door she stood awkwardly in front of it.

She motioned to his book. "Are you very interested in the history of magic?"

He smiled. "More now than even when I was at Hogwarts. Binns just doesn't do the subject justice. This book's quite fascinating though- Bill got it for me. I'm more interested in Arithmancy and Transfiguration myself- though Ancient Runes has its own appeal. It's the most interesting to study, but the least practical, don't you agree?"

"Of course! But that's part of the joy in it- it's learning for the sake of learning. I suppose it does come in handy to Bill though?"

"Yes, of course. But not me. I'm most likely to use Arithmancy- how far are you in that, anyway?"

"Well, we spent time last year on the involvement of statistics in magical error, and will be starting with advanced Geomancy- I believe Circular Studies is one of our books, and we'll be learning about Fractallation too, of course."

Percy positively beamed. "I loved Fractallation! If you ever have any problems- not that you will, of course- feel free to owl me. Juliot sets are possibly the most complex thing you'll learn, but..."

And they were off. Hermione was finally getting an intellectual, magic-based discussion. And reacting in her typical manner, the lure of intelligent conversation quickly pushed her original reason for seeking out Percy to the back of her brain. She decided that this was one acquaintance she absolutely had to cultivate.